History: Local: Contents, Introductory & Chapters I - II : Davis's 1877 History of Northampton Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Susan Walters USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. _______________________________________________________________________ HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. ††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† TABLE OF CONTENTS ______ HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE INTRODUCTORY......................................... 2 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania..... 9-17 [omitted in this on-line version.] I Discoveries before Columbus.......................... 17 II The Original People ................................. 20 III Characters and Peculiarities of the Indians ......... 22 IV Indian Warfare, Hunting and Oratory ................. 24 V Indian Respect for the Aged - Adoption of Children .. 25 VI Indian Superstition ................................. 27 VII The Question of Delawares Humiliation ............... 28 VIII The First Proprietary ............................... 31 IX The Minisink Settlement ............................. 32 X The Scotch-Irish .................................... 33 XI Settlements by Germans .............................. 34 XII The Northampton Hunting Grounds ..................... 35 XIII Character of the Pioneer-Their Privations ........... 35 XIV Account of the Redemptioners ........................ 37 XV The Walking Purchase ................................ 38 XVI The Missionaries .................................... 42 XVII Schools in the Forest ............................... 46 XVIII Erection of the County .............................. 47 XIX The Indian Troubles of 1755 ......................... 48 XX Later Massacres ..................................... 52 XXI Roads - The First Stage Lines ....................... 55 XXII Opening of the Revolution ........................... 56 XXIII Incidents of 1777 ................................... 59 XXIV Events in 1778 ...................................... 64 XXV Campaign against the Six Nations .................... 68 XXVI Northampton at Close of the Revolution .............. 71 XXVII List of Taxables of Northampton by Townships ........ 72 XXVIII After the Revolution ................................ 77 XXIX The Consequences of a Four-Penny Tax ................ 78 XXX An Indian Treaty .................................... 79 XXXI Fries' Invasion ..................................... 80 XXXII Second War against Britain .......................... 81 XXXIII Prices-Internal Improvements-Speculation ............ 83 XXXIV Anthracite Coal-Waterways ........................... 84 XXXV Progress-Packets & c. ............................... 91 XXXVI Northampton in 1861 ................................. 92 XXXVII The Seventh Days' - South Mountain - Antietam ....... 93 XXXVIII Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville ................. 95 XXXIX Gettysburg 1863 ..................................... 98 XL The Reception of the 153rd Regiment ................. 101 Names and Records of Officers and Privates from Northampton Mustered into the National Service in the War of Rebellion 1st Regiment .......................................... 103 9th " .......................................... 104 41st " .......................................... 105 47th " .......................................... 106 39th " 2d Cavalry ............................... 110 51st " .......................................... 113 64th " .......................................... 117 67th " .......................................... 119 108th " 11th Cavalry .............................. 121 115th " 12th Cavalry .............................. 123 129th " .......................................... 125 153rd " ......................................... 127 Battery "D" 5th U. S. Artillery ........................ 134 174th Regiment .......................................... 134 202d " .......................................... 135 214th " .......................................... 136 215th " .......................................... 136 5th " Militia of 1862 ......................... 137 46th " Militia of 1863 ......................... 138 27th " Emergency Troops ........................ 138 38th " Militia of 1863 ......................... 138 34th " Militia of 1863 ........................ 139 Soldiers Bounties .................................... 140 Prosperity-Geology and Agriculture ................... 140 Education ........................................... 142 History of Borough of Easton ........................ 145-192 Lafayette College ..................................... 173 Churches of Easton .................................. 178-190 Cemeteries of Easton ................................ 190 Cooke¹s Furniture Factory Easton .................... 191 Borough of Bethlehem ............................... 192-210 Churches of Bethlehem ............................... 206 The Borough South Bethlehem ......................... 210 Religious Worship of South Bethlehem ................ 214 Borough of South Easton ............................. 216 Churches of South Easton ............................ 219 Borough of Nazareth .................................. 220 Borough of Bangor .................................... 224 Borough of Ruth ....................................... 225 Borough of Freemansburg ............................... 226 Borough of Glendon .................................... 228 Borough of Chapman .................................... 229 Borough of Portland ................................... 230 Borough of Hellertown ................................ 230 Lower Saucon Township ................................. 232 Bethlehem ............................................ 237 Allen and East Allen Township ........................ 238 Williams Township ..................................... 244 Forks Township ........................................ 246 Plainfield Township ................................... 248 Moore Township ........................................ 249 Lehigh Township ....................................... 250 Upper Mount Bethel .................................... 251 Lower Mount Bethel .................................... 255 Hanover Township ...................................... 258 Upper and Lower Nazareth .............................. 259 Bushkill Township ..................................... 261 Palmer Township ....................................... 262 Washington Township ................................... 264 ILLUSTRATIONS. VIEWS Bethlehem And South Bethlehem 210-211 County Map 18 Court House 161 Clark, J. W. Residence, Redington 167 Cooke, A. D. Factory, Easton 190 Curtus & Co., Store Easton 224 Chapman & Chapman Slate Quarries, Chapman 228-229 Doutrich, J., Store Bethlehem 204 Easton Frontispiece Episcopal Church, Easton 151 Eilelman, W. C., Residence 156 Easton Free Press, Easton 167 Easton Express, Easton 167 Eagle Hotel Bethlehem 254 Egert J., Store Portland 224 Fatzinger, Jacob 239 German Catholic Church, Bethlehem 207 Green, Henry, Bethlehem 161 Goth, Herman, Bethlehem 203 Gangewer, A. S. Residence, & c. Bingen 239 Houser, W. R. Residence, Weaverville 204 Hower, George, Broadway House Ranger 224 Hess, J. S. Residence Hellertown 232 Hottenstein Carriage Manufactory, Slatington 250 Jones R. M. Residence, Bangor 224 Lafayette College, Easton 142-143 Lane W. B. Store, Easton 156 Lebicton Paint Mill E. C. Proprietor, Easton 158 Laubach W., Store, Easton 167 Lukenbach's Store Bethlehem 263 Lerch, Cyrus R., Store Bethlehem 267 Luckenbach, D. A., Grist Mill, Bethlehem 207 Lehigh University, Bethlehem 214 Lutz, E. P., Store Bangor 324 Myers' Drug Store Bethlehem 203 Moravian Female Seminary 190 Moravian Church, Bethlehem 198 Myers, George D., Store 203 Old Academy and High School Buildings, Easton 177 Phillipsburg National Bank 167 Reigel, M. J. Store, Easton 167 Rauch, James Store Bethlehem 203 Reigel's Dry Good Store, Bethlehem 203 Reformed Church Third Street, Easton 180 Semple, H. B. Store, Easton 151 Sandt, C. W. Hotel, Stockerton 180 Schwartz & Weaver, Store Easton 203 St. Bernard's Catholic Church, Easton 187 St. Marks's Reformed Church, Easton 190 St. Joseph's Catholic Church, South Easton 219 Shimer A. S. Residence, Bethlehem Township 246 Unangst, John J., Factory Nazareth 167 Weirbach, William, Store, Bethlehem 224 Young, S., Tiger Hall Bethlehem 203 Yeager, H. D., Saw Mill 204 Yeager, W. R., Residence, Bingen 236 PORTRAITS Rev. George Junkins A. M. 173 Rev. William C. Cattell, D. D. 175 Lewis Doster, Esq. 271 General William E. Doster 271 General James L. Selfridge 271 Colonel Charles Glanz 271 General Frank Reeder 271 Rev. John Vanderveer 271 General T. F. Rodenbaugh 271 Major Charles A. Wilhoff 271 Dr. James Cavanaugh 271 John Eyerman, Esq. 267 Mrs. John Eyerman, Esq. 267 William Shouse 267 Hon. David Wagner 267 L. C. Reese Esq. 267 James H. Coffin L. L. D. 267 Rev. Samuel Hess 232 Mrs. Samuel Hess 232 Dr. Henry Detwiller 172 INTRODUCTORY. We present to the public this history of Northampton county- the result of a year of constant labor and research- with a feeling of confidence, somewhat tempered by a consciousness of unavoidable imperfection. Upon the commencement of the work, we were told (and the warning has since been frequently reiterated), that it would be impossible, in the space Of a single year, to perfect a history so long and eventful as that of Northampton; and this, we knew, was so far true, that not in one, nor indeed in five years, could be produced a complete and perfect historical narrative of all the events which have so thickly crowded the century and it quarter of the county's existence; much less, of the forty dim and shadowy year, preceding its erection, and extending back to the first settlement of Hollander to the Minisuiks. But, though realizing the impossibility of achieving absolute perfection and completeness of detail, we have labored long and patiently, and have used out best endeavors, to approximate as nearly as ought be, to that result; and, in this consciousness, we now offer the work to our patrons, and confidently await their verdict. The most difficult part of this, as of all similar works, is the obtaining of authentic knowledge of the exact dates of first settlements, and the names of those who made them. Accounts of these are, in most cases transmitted through the medium of tradition; the different accounts almost invariably disagreeing in material points, and not infrequently being wholly irreconcilable. In these extreme cases, the historian has no recourse except to give the differing statements for what they are worth, and to submit the question to the judgment of the public. Another source of perplexity, is the changes in orthography of many of the old names-particularly those of persons. Perhaps the most noticeable of these instances in the history of this county, is that of the well known name of one of Easton's prominent men of the olden time; a name which we find oftenest written Kichline, but in various places, spoiled in seven other different ways. In many other names, the change are only less numerous. That of the old Delaware chief, Tatemy, is also sometime given as-Tatarny, Tattamy, Tademy, and Tademe while those of Arndt, Levd, Schaus, Lyle, and others. are found differently written at different times; and, in more than one instance, we have found it difficult to decide which manner was the proper one to adopt. To write a truthful history of any county, or section of country, is never a light or trivial task, but it becomes, peculiarly onerous in the case of a county like Northampton, the annals of which are filled, not only with the usual events of early settlements, the making of homes in the wilderness, and the laying of the deep foundations of later prosperity, but also with tales of Indian barbarity and massacre, as well as of the white encroachments which were the ostensible cause of those cruelties; with records of those peculiar people, the Moravians, whose benevolence, enlightenment, piety and industry, engraved themselves in characters which are still legible on every land in the region of the Lehigh and Delaware; with the story of the unselfish missionaries of different sects, who, in the ancient time made the country within the Forks of Delaware their centering point; and with the wonderful account of the discovery and development of hidden mineral wealth, richer than the mines of Peru; each and every one of these subject, offering in itself the scope and material for extensive historical illustration. Into this wide field we have entered and labored with assiduity and perseverance, notwithstanding the certainty of pecuniary loss. It has been our design to trace the progress of the county of Northampton in such a manner as to show, clearly to the reader of the present day its gradual development from the original wilderness, and through the maturing stages of it existence, up to the present condition of enlightenment and prosperity, and to illustrate, in plain and simple story, the privations, the virtues, the piety, and patriotism Of her people. How far we have succeeded in accomplishing this purpose, it is for the public to judge. To those who have kindly given us their aid in the collection of material for the work, we desire to express our thanks; and among these we would mention, in general, the pastors of the churches, the editors of the different journals, and the county officers. We are also under special obligations to the following gentlemen, and others, throughout the county, for favors extended and for valuable information, both oral and written: Hon. Charles Brodhead, Bethlehem Rev. William C. Cattell D.D., Easton Bishop K. de Schweinitz, Bethlehem Prof. Henry Coppee, LL.D., Bethlehem Rev. Francis Wolle, Bethlehem. C. H. Dickerman, Esq., Bethlehem C. B. Daniels, Esq., Bethlehem C. 0. Ziegenfuss, Esq., Bethlehem D. J. Yerkes, Esq., Bethlehem Rev. E. H. Reichel, Nazareth Rev. Eugene Leibert, Nazareth Jeremiah S. Hess, Esq., Hellertown Rev. A. Z. Snyder, Freemansburg Rev. C. J. Cooper, Freemansburg Thomas K. Seem, Esq., Bath G. T. Fox, Esq., Bath Jacob Fatzinger, Esq., Weaversville. John Horner, Esq., Weaversville General Frank Reeder. Easton. Valentine Hilburn, Esq., Easton Rev. Frank Miller, Easton Rev. Dr. Beck, Easton John J. Carey Eaton Judge O. H. Meyer, Easton James W. Lynn, Esq., Easton Elisha Allis, Esq., Easton. Hon. W. L Sebring, Easton Samuel Moore, Esq., Easton. B. M. Youelk, Easton. W. B. Cooley, Easton. Henry Shouse, Easton. John Shouse, Easton. F. K Copp, Easton. Michael Butz, Easton. Andrew Herster, Easton. John Brown, Easton. W. Gibson Field, Esq., Easton. James K. Dawes, Esq., Easton. Dr. Henry Detwiller, Easton. Prof. S. J. Coffin, Easton. Prof. Frederick Prinie, Easton. Prof. Owens, Easton. W. W. Cottingham, Esq., Easton. William Firmstone, Esq., Glendon. Owen B. Goetz, Esq., Hanover. John M. Lerch, Esq., Forks township. Mr. Henry, Bushkill township Major John Best, Williams township, William C. Edleman, Esq., Palmer township, E. M. Jones, Esq., Bangor _____________________________________________________________________________ 17 CHAPTER I. DISCOVERIES BEFORE COLUMBUS. IN the inscrutable economy of Providence, a provision as universal as it is wise and beneficent, seems to be the gradual development of such knowl- edge as is important to the advancement and well being of man; and that when any great discovery or revelation becomes necessary, then the means and opportunities are furnished, and permitted to be made available (some- times suddenly, but oftener, by slow and progressive degrees) for the accomplishment of the desired end. In such a light must be regarded the discovery of America. It was an event brought about in spite of the coldness and ridicule of princes and nobles and learned men, but it was a part of the Divine scheme which no human opposition could thwart. The time had arrived when the world needed the revelation. The earthly instrument of its execution was a sea-farer of the city of Genoa; one of comparatively humble condition, but who, through years of scientific research, wrought out the theories which, at last, he so triumphantly verified. This was the accomplishment of the Providential plan; but its first visible development had occurred ages before, when a rude and unlettered sea-ranger had been driven, by adverse winds, across a sea which he had thought to be boundless, to a land of whose existence he bad never dreamed. It is not for us to trace a connection between the two events; or to inquire how much the vague narrative of the Norsemen's exploits strengthened Columbus in his determination to cross the unknown ocean; our business now, is simply to recount the story of ignorant seamen from Northern Europe, who, almost nine hundred years ago, involuntarily found in the West, beyond the wild Atlantic, a land which they occupied for a time, and then most unaccountably abandoned. Fifty centuries of file world's existence had rolled away, each leaving its impress on the page of history; Niniveh and Babylon and Thebes has had their rise and decay; Greece and Rome had flourished and fallen; Carthage had enjoyed her day of supremacy upon the seas, and then had ceased to exist. The northern hordes had swept down like a hail storm on the fairest portions of Europe, and the gloom of the Dark Ages, had settled down like the shadows of a winter night on the civilization of the Old World, when, in the very commencement of the eleventh century, there dawned upon the barbarous Northmen, a faint glimmering from the mysterious lands, lying hundreds of leagues to the westward, across the dread surges of the "Sea of Darkness*. These people, called Northmen were Scandinavians, who inhabited the vast territories now embraced in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, and being a hardy, brave, and adventurous race, and, withal, possessed of (for that day) great nautical skill, they not only made themselves masters of all the northern seas, but even pushed their enterprises (which it must be admitted, partook more of the nature of piracy than of honest maritime. traffic) into the Mediterranean, where they became a terror to the legiti- mate traders of Venice, and of the other cities bordering upon that sea. In fact, they were, among all the European nations, regarded as marine freebooters, and as such, were feared and detested. Their vessels were craft of but few tons burthen, rudely equipped, and clumsily rigged, and always carrying on the prow the image of the head of a dragon or of some other imaginary monster. They were generally commanded by the sons of the Jarls, or Earls, who were themselves but retired sea-robbers. These pirate captains were called Vikings, and they were as severe and tyrannical, over their mariners and fighting men, as they were remorseless in treatment of their victims. Lawless marauders, as were the Vikings and their followers, they were file best and most adventurous navigators of the age, as well as fearless and redoubtable warriors. Not a tent upon deck and no sleeping ashore Within houses, but enemies go, Vikings sleep on their shields, with their swords in their hands, And for tent they have heaven, so blue. When the merchant ye meet, ye may spare his good ship, But the weaker, his wealth must unfold, Thou art king on the wave he is slave of his gain, And thy steel is as good as his gold." These are extracted from many similar lines found in Frithiof's Saga,** illustrative of the character and attributes of the Vikings. As early as the commencement of the ninth century, they had discovered and established colonies, or stations, on the Faroe Islands, whence they made frequent and bloody incursions into Scotland and England, and whence, about that time, it commander named Naddok, on one of his expeditions, penetrated so far north that he sighted the hitherto unknown island of Ice- land, but he seems to have been more disgusted than otherwise at its bleak barrenness, for he made no attempt at occupation; but after skirting the shores and mountains for some distance, gave it the repelling name of Sitou. land, and then gladly returned home. However, "a certain pyrate, whose name was Flokko," (this is the language of the chronicle), having heard Naddok's account, set sail for the new country in 865, and being resolved not only to see, but to colonize it, he took with him, from Norway, some families, implements, and cattle, for that purpose. This was hardly a piratical outfit to be sure. The Vikings had no knowledge of the mariner's compass. So Flokko carried with him three ravens, which had previously received the rite of consecration from the priests of the pagan god, Odin. These birds were depended on to tell the navigator of the proximity of land. When a few days out, he liberated the first raven, which at once returned in the direction whence the slip had come, which he supposed to show that there was no land nearer than the port from which he had sailed. Farther on, the second bird was released, and, after hovering in a confused manner for some time, returned to the vessel. But two days later, upon being again set free, be rose to a great height, and then unhesitatingly sped straight to the northwest. The Viking followed the feathered pilot, and soon reached the land of his search. But the colony was a failure, and soon Flokko and his people returned to Norway, perhaps quite as much disgusted as Naddok had been, for they brought away very discouraging reports of the country, and named it Iceland, which can hardly be said to have been all improvement on that which the first discoverer had so contemptuously bestowed on it. __________________________________________________________________________ * In those times, the Atlantic Ocean was regarded by mariners with the most extreme superstition and dread, and was known as the Sea of Darkness. It was supposed that unimaginable horrors awaited any seaman who should have the hardihood to venture far out upon it. **The Saga are the historical chronicles of Iceland. 18 But in the year 874, A. D., the Earl Ingolf, who had, in some way, incurred the displeasure of his king-Harold the Fair-haired, of Norway-put his family and all his goods on board ship and fled to Iceland, where he established a colony, which proved a permanent one, and which has now passed its one thousandth year of existence. Shortly after the settlement of Iceland, a sailor named Gunnbiorn, upon one occasion, had the misfortune to be blown off the coast, before in easterly gale, across the narrow sea which separates the island from Greenland, and thrown upon the coast of that inhospitable country. From thence be succeeded in returning to Iceland, bringing very glowing accounts of his new discovery. No colonists, however, went there for many years; but, in 985, Earl Eric, the Red, himself an outlaw in Norway as Ingolf had been, fled his country and migrated to Greenland, from whence he (after the universal custom of the founders of new colonies,) spread such favorable reports, that in the year 989, twenty-five vessels, loaded with families, cattle, and household goods, sailed for the new land; but, sad to eleven of these ships were lost on the passage. Fourteen, however, arrived safely, and by these, Greenland was extensively settled, and for many years the emigration thence, from Norway and Denmark, was very considerable. In the year of our Lord 1000, there was a bold young Danish Viking named Biarn, who, in that year, returning from a protracted cruise, learned that, during his absence, his father, Heriulf, whom he greatly loved, had followed Red Eric, and settled in Greenland. Without hesitation, and without even discharging his cargo (or probably, more properly speaking, his plunder), he at once set sail thither; but the navigation of that day-was far from being the exact science which it now is- (and, indeed, it seems inconceivable that the Vikings- should have ever had the hardihood to venture on an unknown and boisterous ocean in their tiny, half-decked vessels, and without compass) -and so, the weather being thick, and a heavy gale blowing from the northeast, he missed his destination, and after being driven for many days before the wind, he came in sight of a land, which, however, he knew at once was not Greenland, for it was a flat and wooded country, with no lofty ice-hills, such as he had been told to expect. It is generally supposed, though not certainly known, that the land first seen by Biarn was the coast of Nova Scotia; but whatever it was, there can be no doubt that he and his crew were the first Europeans who ever saw land belonging to the North American Continent. How little they comprehended the magnitude of their discovery. The crew had great desire to go on shore, but the captain refused, and turning his course more towards the north, keeping well out at sea, with the land upon his larboard quarter, sailed-for two days and nights, after which he again approached the coast, but found still the same low, level shore, thickly covered with trees, and bearing no resemblance to the land he sought the land where he hoped to meet his father. Again he stood away on his course for two days, and then for the third time he made land. This he found to be "high and mountainous, with snowy mountains." By sailing close along the shore for a space, he discovered it to be all island, but Dot the haven be wished for; and so once more he stood out, and ran before a brisk southwest wind for three days and nights, when at last he saw the rugged coast of Greenland, right before him, and soon he had the great joy to meet the father whom he had sought so long. When Biarn related to the Earl Eric, and to the other colonists, the story of his involuntary voyage to the unknown country, he was greatly censured by them for having failed to explore, or at least to land upon it; but it seemed never to have occurred to him that any such course ought to have been pursued. His chief desire had been to reach the land where his old father had made his home, and afterwards it had been his intention to make regular voyages between Greenland and Norway, in which traffic, he hoped and believed, he should realize much gain. And now that he had reached Herjufness (the place where his father had settled), he was too much overjoyed to indulge any regret for his neglect to explore the lands he had seen, or to feel any wish to return to them for further observation. To the sons of old Eric the Red, however, and particularly to Leif, the eldest of them, the desire to visit, and to explore the mysterious regions which Biarn had seen, became overpowering, and accordingly, with Eric's sanction, Leif, in the year 1001, purchased Biarn's ship, and fitted her for the cruise. A crew of thirty-five men were employed, and Biarn himself consented to accompany the expedition. The old Earl, Red Eric, had been prevailed on by his soil to command, but as he was riding to the port, whence the little vessel was to take her departure, the horse on which he rode stumbled and threw the old Viking to the ground. Profoundly superstitious, he saw in this accident a most sinister omen, and declared that it was a warning to him to make no more voyages for the discovery of now countries. So his son, Leif, sailed in command of the vessel, which left her port most auspiciously, and stretched boldly away southwestwardly over the unknown sea. It was the intention of Lief to retrace as nearly as practicable the vessel's former track, and thus to make, first, the high rugged island which Biarn had lost seen, and from thence to skirt the land until he should reach the other point seen by that young navigator. The voyage prospered, and in due time they saw before them the lofty hills, which Biarn at once recognized as those of the island whence he had taken his last departure. It was not intended by the new commander to make much stay here, but he went on shore and made some explorations, which showed him that it was a most forbidding place, the entire space from the sea to the base of the mountains being covered with flat stones, which lay so thickly, that no soil or vegetation appeared among them. With a feeling of disappointment, he named the discovery Helluland, from the word hella, which in the Norse dialect, signified a flat stone. Then he re-embarked, and after a further exploration by water among the deep bays, harbors, and coves, with which the island was greatly indented, he proceeded on his way to seek the lands which had first greeted the eves of Biarn, after he emerged from the fogs and gloom of his tempestuous voyage-that level and wooded country, which seemed like paradise to the imaginations of those rough rovers, whose whole lives had been spent upon the stormy seas, and among the glaciers and wild crags of the barren north. Keeping away to the southwest, he again made land; this time a fair looking and tree covered region, to which he gave the name of Markland (or Woodland). There is little doubt that this was the island now known as Cape Breton. Beyond this, he made another binding, finding still the same distinguishing natural features. But his love of adventure and thirst of discovery was not yet quenched, and so with a brisk northerly wind, he stood bravely on towards the southwest. Steadily on this course, he laid for three days and nights, when again came the welcome cry of land. Here he came to anchor, and waited for good weather, meantime going on shore to examine the region. It has never been satisfactorily settled, precisely where this land was, but it was beyond doubt a part of the New England coast, and is quite generally believed to have been the island of Martha's Vineyard, south of the State of Massachusetts. After a short stay, Leif coasted along the shore line, and proceeded "up a river which came through a lake," as we are assured by the Saga. Here, he ordered the vessel to be securely moored, and preparations to be made for winter quarters-for the autumn had already come-rude houses were built, and soon all was made secure. The ship had been victualled for a long absence, and so our voyagers had no fear of a scarcity of provisions. Moreover, there was among the crew, a man named Tyrker-not one of their own countrymen, but a Southron, from the land of vineyards-and he, in one of his rambles on shore found grapes in profusion, growing wild in the woods. This discovery was hailed with the greatest joy by the Northmen, for they had never seen grapes in Greenland, Iceland or Norway. It is not stated whether or not, Leif's people made any attempt at wine pressing, but the ripe grapes, which were freely gathered and eaten by them, they found most delicious to the taste; and besides this, they cured great quantities of them, by drying in the warm sun of the delightful Indian Summer. Leif was almost overjoyed with the perfect climate (as it seemed to him) and the delicious fruit, and in his ecstasy, he named the country Vinland-the home of the vine. Soon, however, the bright days were gone, and then came blinding snow storms, and shrill winds, bowling fiercely along the bleak coast; but the Viking's crew had seen the deeper snows of Norway, and had felt the sting of the icy gales which roar across the Arctic Circle; and so they could laugh at the rigors of even a New England winter. During this season they gathered great store of the different kinds of timber and woods, which grew so profusely in Vinland, but which were scarce, and most highly prized in their own country. On the opening of spring, they loaded their ship with these, and then, filling their long boat, and all available space on the vessel with dried grapes, they bade adieu to their winter home, and filled away on their return to Greenland. On the homeward voyage, a day or two before his arrival, Leif rescued and saved a shipwrecked crew, which he brought to the port of his destination. One of these was a woman, named Gudrid, wife of the captain of the wrecked vessel, who soon died, and then his widow married Thorstein, a brother of Leif, and son of the Earl, Eric the Red. 19 The place where Leif and his followers had passed the winter, and which they had named Vinland, is generally supposed to have been situated on an arm of Narragansett Bay, below the mouth of the Taunton River, and near to the present town of Tiverton, in Rhode Island. And of this land, the explorers brought back to Greenland the most marvelous accounts. It was, they said, a region of almost unbroken summer (it is not strange that they thought it such, considering how cold and sterile was the land which they called home). And they told how delightful was its location, how great its fertility, and how abundant its rich fruits and rare woods. They indulged to the full, that propensity which is everywhere found in human nature, and which seems to be universal among those who visit remote regions; gross exaggeration of facts relating to the wonders they had seen in their mysterious journeyings. If they did not paint these in colors, as glowing as those in which the Spanish explorers depicted the golden El Dorado and the Fountain of Youth, it was probably less on amount of their stricter adherence to truth, than because they lacked the vivid and gorgeous imaginations of the Southern adventurers. So the wonderful tale was told from mouth to mouth. The newly discovered land became known as "Vinland the Good," and its enterprising discoverer received the name of "Leif the Fortunate." Soon the story was carried to Norway and Denmark, from whence, eventually, it was heard of in a dim vague way, in other part- of Europe. Soon after Leif's return, he made a journey to Norway, and while there became converted from the Norse paganism to Christianity, and when he again rerturned to Greenland, he took with him some Christian priests, which act greatly incensed his father-for Red Eric was firm in his pagan faith, and continued unshaken in the worship of the Viking's gods, Odin and Thor, until his death, which occurred soon after. Having now, by his father's death, become the head of the family, Leif unwillingly abandoned the project which he entertained of another voyage to Vinland the Good; and, indeed, he resolved henceforth to live quietly at home, as his father had done, and so no more was ever heard of the ocean adventures or exploits of Leif the Fortunate. But his brother Thorvald (who had also embraced the Christian religion through the labors of the Norwegian priests) took up the enterprise, and soon departed, in his brother's ship, for the western land, where he arrived safely after a short and prosperous voyage. Having without difficulty found the houses erected by his brother, he took possession, and there passed the winter. The next year, he pushed his explorations far to the westward (probably through Long Island Sound), as far as "another lake through which a river flowed to the sea." The explorers were enchanted with the green grass, the groves of great trees, and abundance of vegetable growth which were all so strange to them. They made many landings upon the islands, and each time their joy and admiration was increased. Thorvald and his men also passed the following winter in the cabins built by Leif, and again, in the spring, made voyages and journeyings, to the northward and eastward, passing Cape Cod, and, it is supposed, penetrating up Massachusetts Bay as far as the vicinity of Boston. They had never yet seen any of the natives of the country, until, upon one of their expeditions, they suddenly came upon three boats, made of skins, and set up as tents. Under these were nine savages, asleep. The Viking and his men had the greatest contempt for these beings, and bestowed on them the name of Skraellings, which, in the Norse language, was a term of the bitterest opprobrium. In fact, they considered them as no better than wild beasts; and so, when they found these, sleeping so quietly, and unconscious of danger, they followed the instincts of their fierce Northern nature, and falling at once upon the unoffending natives, they slew all but one, who escaped with his life, but greatly terrified. Thus flowed the first blood, at the hands of Europeans, in the New World. Alas! what carnage and woe have succeeded that first murderous act. As they came to a pleasant point of land, covered with the dark evergreen of fir trees, Thorvald said to his followers: " Here, on this Cape, would I wish to raise my dwelling." He little thought how soon his desire would be realized. The frightened native, who had escaped slaughter by the Northmen, had aroused great numbers of his people, who were then determined to avenge the cruel murder of their companions, and remained hidden until an opportunity should present itself. So, a little further on, at a time when the party of explorers were resting in fancied security, they were surprised by the sound of the terrible war-whoop, and an attack by a great number of the Skraellings. In dismay, they fled to their vessel, and raised the wooden shield, behind which they were want to fight their enemies. From thence they discharged their arrows, and soon the natives retired, but not until one of the white men had been wounded in the side, by a dart from the Skraellings. The wounded man was none other than Thorvald himself; and when he withdrew the dart from the wound, and knew that his hurt was mortal, he told his followers to bear him to the pleasant promontory, and bury him there among the fir trees. "It may be," said he, "that it was a true word which I spake, that I would dwell there for a time; there shall ye bury me, and set crosses at my feet and head, and call the place Krossaness* forever, in all time to come." His men obeyed the dying command of the young sea-king, and left him there, with the Christian cross (the first ever erected on the American Continent) marking the spot where he slept in peace beneath the evergreens. The party was now without a head, and, being entirely disheartened, returned to Greenland. Then, Thorstein, another son of Eric, victualled a vessel and sailed in search of the body of his brother, resolved to bring it back to the family tomb. This was in the year 1005. His company numbered twenty-five men, and he made a most faithful search, but failed to find file point called Krossaness, and so, after a time, returned unsuccessful, and soon after died of scurvy, contracted on the voyage. Thorstein was the last of the sons of Eric who ever journeyed to America, but the blood of the Red Earl would not be still. His daughter, Freydis, sister of Leif, Thorvald and Thorstein, next planned an expedition to the land of vines. She was the wife of Thorvard, the captain of it trading ship; and he, with one Thorffinn Karlsefue, it rich merchant of Iceland, fitted out three vessels, with which they sailed in the spring of the year 1007. The wife of Karlsefue, was none other than Gudrid, the widow of Thorstein, she who had been rescued from shipwrecked by Lief, on his return voyage from Vinland. Besides, Freydis and Gudrid, many other women were taken; as well as cattle, implements, and abundant stores, for it was intended to found it permanent colony. The company numbered more than one hundred persons, with Thorffian in command, though the woman Freydis, was in reality the master spirit of the enterprise. Their outward voyage was a prosperous one. On arriving at the lands near their destination, they found the huge carcass of a whale which bad been stranded high and dry upon the sandy shore, and this wag not only a great accession to their commissariat, but was esteemed as most delicious food to those hyperborean epicures. It is not known whether or not they settled at the place where Leif built his houses; but they found abundance of game and fish, and great trees covered with grapes, while a little way off, were "fields of self-sown wheat," (by which is probably meant the Indian maize). Here they expected to pass a pleasant and unmolested life; but soon they were visited by the " Skraelliugs," who were described ass "black and ill- favored, with coarse hair on the head, with large eyes and broad cheeks." They seemed to be entirely ignorant of the uses or capabilities of edged implements, and it is told that one of them playfully handling one of the Norse battle axes, apparently ignorant that it was a more formidable weapon than those of their own rude fashioning, dealt to one of his companions a blow which was instantly fatal. These natives, however, offered no violence to the whites, but, after satisfying their curiosity, went away for a time; soon, however, returning in great numbers, and wishing to barter valuable skins and furs for red cloth of which the colonists seem to have had a large quantity, and with which the natives were greatly pleased, Cow's milk was also freely given them and this they appreciated highly. But of a sudden, when all was progressing pleasantly, a bull, belonging to Thorffinn, burst out from among the trees, and with a roaring, which shook the very earth, rushed full upon the poor Skraellings, who, thereupon, fled to their boats in the greatest terror. For a long time they remained away, but after awhile they returned in a great body, and gave battle to the Northmen, who, being vastly outnumbered, fled to the woods, after many had been killed by those natives whom they so much despised; and it is related that they would all have been slaughtered, but that Freydis, seizing a weapon from the body of one of the slain men, rushed upon the savages with great fury, making loud and piercing cries and wild gestures by which the Saga says: they were as much terrified, as on a former occasion they had been, by the bellowing of the bull. * Krossamss, in the Norm language. signifies Cross Cape, and this place is supposed to be identical with the point now called Point Aiderton, in Boston harbor. 20 They rushed pell-mell to their boats, fled in dismay, and were seen no more. This attack, and its results greatly discouraged the colonists; who at once demanded of their leader Karlsefne that they should return home without delay. He, being a merchant of wealth and consideration in Iceland, acceded to their wishes, and returned to that country, where he passed the remainder of his days in ease and splendor. But Freydis, being a very bold and ambitious woman, was by no means satisfied with this result. She wished to found a permanent colony, in which herself and her husband Thorvard should be the chief personages. Three years later, she had organized another expedition, fitted out in partnership with two brethern-Icelanders-named Helgi and Finnbagi. In 1011, they sailed for the place where Leif had laid his winter quarters ten years before. There they arrived without accident or delay, and found the booths, or houses, still standing, and in tolerable repair. But quietude did not reign there. In fact, peace could nowhere long exist, where lived the fierce and ambitious daughter of the red Eric. She quarrelled with the brothers, Helgi and Finnbagi, and plotted to take their lives; inducing Thorvard also to enter into the infernal conspiracy. Inspired by her malig- nant counsel, Thorvald persuaded his own followers to join the plot, and together they fell upon the brothers and their company, in their separate quarters, and slew them. Of these unhappy victims, there were five women, whom the male conspirators would gladly have allowed to live, but the tiger spirit of Freydis would not have it so, and finding that her followers refused to do the murder, she killed all with her own hand, disregarding their piteous appeals for mercy. Nothing but disaster and gloom followed this bloody deed, and the long and dreary winter which ensued was filled with remorse and dread for the guilty colonists. So when the spring came again, it was unanimously agreed to abandon the settlement and return to Greenland. When Leif the Fortunate was told of his sister's crimes, he debated whether he should visit a just punishment upon her; but his brotherly feeling prevailed, and he allowed her to escape with her life, but disowned her, and predicted for her remaining years, only woe and execration, which, the chronicle says, was completely fulfilled. This was the last Norse expedition to the American coast, of which there is any account, which seems at all authentic. One Saga has it that the place was visited several times afterward-among these visitors, being a priest named Eric, who saw the land in 1321, but of this there is great doubt, and we are left to conclude that the entire period during which the Northman sailed to, and transiently occupied, the place which they called Vinland, covered a space of less than fifteen years. Why such an enticing field should have been so suddenly abandoned by them, must always be a mystery. Certainly it could not have been through dread of the savage natives, for those ocean freebooters hardly knew fear; and it could not have been that they thought the country not worth the oc- cupation, for the land seemed limitless in extent, and far richer and more productive than any which they had ever dwelt in. The most reasonable theory is, that the cause lay in the overwhelming troubles which we know came upon Greenland and Iceland soon after, resulting in the total extinguishment of the colonies in the former country, and in the almost complete abandonment of navigation in the northern waters. A frightful disease, known as the Black Death, spread over the countries of Northern Europe, and from thence was communicated to Iceland and Greenland, resulting almost in depopulation. In the midst of this visitation, the Esquimaux opened unrelenting war on the Greenland settlements, and to add to these horrors, there occurred two successive winters of such extreme severity, that the adjacent seas were blocked with ice of incredible thickness, and forever cut off the settlers from their fellowmen. That was the last ever heard of the colony founded by Eric the Red. All knowledge of the country called Greenland, faded away into a shadowy tradition; and it was not until ages afterward, that its rediscovery brought it again to the remembrance of men. It was but natural, therefore, that in the oblivion which settled down on the parent country (as Greenland might properly be called) the veil of forgetfulness should also fall on the half known land, which her sons had discovered. The story is shadowy and incomplete, and might, by many, be regarded as mythical, but for the proofs which exist in clearly cut, Runic inscriptions, engraved on the face of rocks near the town of Dighton, in southeastern Massachusetts, which remain there now, as they were found by the Puritan settlers who came there in 1620; and also in remains of ancient structures of masonry, not far from Newport, R. I., both of which show, beyond all doubt, that at some time, centuries ago, that section of country was occupied by a race, other than the Indian; and give authentic support to the Saga's romantic account of the Northmen's voyages to Vinland. As we have said, the knowledge of the discoveries of Biarn and Lief, slowly spread from Norway to other portions of Europe. In seventy-five years, it had reached Germany, being brought there by a historian called Adam, of Bremen, who had visited Sweden at that time. By most of those who heard these rumors, they were regarded as mere inventions; but the mind of Columbus-nearly five hundred years later-accepted them as possibilities, to say the least; and it is known that be made a journey to Iceland for the purpose of determining how far they were true. We do not know to what extent he received them as substantiating the theories which he had deduced from his scientific investigations-whether they made him more firm in his determination to solve the great problem which was the idea of his life-but whether they did or not, can never bedim, the surpassing lustre of his achievement, or cause us to give to any name but that of Christopher Columbus, the honor of First Discoverer of the land we live in. CHAPTER II. THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE WHEN the great mariner of Genoa, on a clear October morning, nearly four hundred years ago, stepped upon the island beach of Guanahani, and, humbly kneeling upon the bright sands, thanked God for the great triumph of his discovery; planting there the Christian standard of Castile and Leon, in royal Isabella's name, there thronged around him, a great concourse of people, who were not like any upon whom European eyes had ever rested. They were of medium stature and rather graceful form, partially clothed, and many wore barbaric ornaments of the precious metals. Their features were not unpleasing, the hue of their skin a coppery olive, and their manners soft, unaggressive, and deferential. They brought to the mysterious strangers, offerings of unknown fruits and gay feathers of tropical birds, and bright shells wrought in curious designs; for they looked upon Columbus, and his followers, with awe, and recognized in them, superior beings-denizens of heaven-fresh from the abode of the Great Spirit, whence they had come, riding across the mighty waters on the backs of white winged monster-birds, for such they believed the little vessels to be. When the "Santa Maria" discharged her carronades, they thought the flashes were her eyes of lightning, and that the explosion was the thunder of her voice. But their awe was not unmixed with admiration, as they gazed on the listening weapons, the velvet doublets, and gorgeous equipments of the ad- miral and his officers, and upon the rich blazonry of the Spanish ensign as it floated above them. They were children of nature; a simple unaffected people; who had never known or seen human being, different from themselves; and whose knowledge of the great world, extended beyond their own isle, only as far as those others which clustered in its vicinity, within reach of their primitive navigation The sight of these pacific Datives, awakened in the voyagers feelings of the most intense curiosity, and, it must be confessed, of avarice, as well, for there was not a sailor in the fleet, who had not, long before he left the harbor of Palos, heard the story, if he had not read it, of Marco Polo's famous overland journey to Cathay, and of all the wonders and the wealth, which he saw there. In fact, it was the recital of these, which had, to many of them, been the sole inducement to undertake that voyage of mystery; hoping, if not believing that, as their commander had assured them, they might find that same land of gold and spices which the venturous Venitian had reached from an opposite direction. And now, had they not found it? The summer sea, the balmy air, the gorgeous face of nature, and, above all, those strange people, who so carelessly wore their profuse decorations of gold-all proclaimed it. And then and there arose within those rough crews, that auri sacra fames, whose home, at that period, seems to have beer in the Spanish breast, and which raged fiercer and fiercer, till it culminated in the inconceivable barbarities of Pizarro and Cortez. 21 But Columbus, himself, felt no tingle of personal avarice, as he thought of those simple natives. Certainly his heart swelled with exultation, but it was only because he had now verified the dream of his life, and because he seemed to see himself made the means of adding untold millions to the treasury of their Catholic majesties, and of bringing hosts of proselytes to the true faith. It was his firm belief that the land which he had discovered, was a part of the Indies; and so the named the people whom he found there Indians; and that is the general appellation, which the aborigines, throughout both the Northern and Southern Continent of the Western World, have borne, to this day. With all the succeeding navigators, it was the same. Whoever they were, Cabot, Verrazani, Cartier, Hudson, or Ponce de Leon; and wherever they pursued their explorations -in the Floridas, in the Chesapeake, Delaware, or St. Lawrence, all found the omnipresent Indian-differing somewhat with location, and generally exhibiting warlike traits in proportion to his distance from the tropics. How long had they existed on the Western Continent? And whence came they? And how? These have been themes of speculation for ages. No satisfactory answer is possible. Let us not pursue the inquiry. Upon the first entry of white explorers and pioneers, upon the rivers Delaware and Hudson, the area now comprised in the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, were occupied by Indian tribes, which Bancroft collectively comprehends under the name of Algonquins. These Indians occupying all that wide territory, were embraced in two nations, or rather, groups of nations, called by Europeans, the Iroquois, and the Delawares, the former having received their name from the French, and the latter from the English. The language of both these peoples was the Algonquin, but of materially different dialects. Among themselves-in the Indian language-the Delawares were known as the Lenni Lenape, or simply the Lenape, while the Iroquois were called the Mengwe or Mingoes; this last being a corruption originating among the more ignorant white men, and from them adopted by the Delawares, who applied it as a name of reproach or contempt to their Mengwe neighbors, between whom and themselves very little friendly feeling existed. The country of the Mengwe extended from the shores of Lake Erie, to those of Champlain and the Hudson, and from the headwaters of the Allegheny, Susquehanna, and Delaware rivers, northward to Lake Ontario, and even across the St. Lawrence; thus really embracing nearly all of the State of New York, and a portion of Canada. This, they figuratively styled their "long council house," within which, the place of kindling the grand council fire, was the Onondaga Valley, where delegates from all the tribes met in solemn deliberation. They existed as a confederation of tribes, and were usually known in English annals as the Five Nations. This alliance was composed of the Mohawks,1 Senecas,2 Cayugas Onondagas,3 and Oneidas.4 The Mohawks occupied the country nearest the Hudson River, and were considered as holding the Post of Honor, the guarding of the eastern entrance of the "long house." The highest chief, of that tribe, was also always the leading war chief of the confederacy. They held the first rank among the tribes, although the Senecas were the most numerous and were possessed of the highest degree of warlike spirit and military energy. They (the Senecas) defended the western portal of the "house," while the Cayugas were guardians over the southern, that is, the frontier of the Delaware and Susquehanna valleys. The grand council fire was under watch and ward of the Onondaga nation, to whom also belonged the office and dignity of Chief Sachem (or highest civil magistrate) of the league. The land of the Oneidas lay farther towards the north against Lake Ontario and the St. = Lawrence. This confederation was said to have been formed many (no one knew how many) years before, for mutual defence against the Lenape, the Canadian Algonquins, and other tribes. They appear to have lived up to the requirements of the league, in good faith, and in perfect mutual accord. As a result they, became the most powerful and dreaded of all the northern aboriginal nations,* having reduced several rival people, among them the Lenape, to a state of semi-vassalage. By themselves, it was claimed, that it was their superior prowess, personal strength, stature, hardihood, endurance, and valor, which accomplished this, but, although it is possible that they may have possessed some such superiority, it is much more probable that their successes were due to the tremendous advantage of fire-arm, which they were enterprising enough to procure from the Dutch on the Hudson River, in advance of their antagonists, who then had no weapons more destructive than the primitive bow and arrow. Having thus early secured this decisive advantage, and the prestige which was its result, they easily held the Delawares at their mercy for more than a century. Many years later than the time of which we write, in or about the year 1712, the Tuscaroras, having been entirely subdued and driven away from their hunting grounds in Carolina by the white settlers, were received into the Iroquois confederacy, which from that time became the Six Nations. How or why the haughty Mengwe were so willing to receive as equals a vanquished and strange people, speaking a different language, seems an inscrutable mystery. Perhaps it was because they had begun to fear the overshadowing power of the pale faces, and were anxious for all accession to their own strength and numbers. The domain of the Delawares extended along the sea-shore from the Chesapeake to the country bordering Long Island Sound, to the eastward of New Amsterdam. Back from the coast it reached beyond the valley of the Susquehanna to the foot of the Alleghenies, and on the north it joined the jealously guarded hunting grounds of their supercilious neighbors, the Mengwe-give-the hated "Mingoes" The three most notable sub-divisions of the Delawares, were the tribes of the Turtle or Unamis, the Turkeys or Unalachtgo, and the Wolf or Minis. The Unafnii and the Unalachtgo branches of the Delaware nation, comprising the tribes of Assunpinks, Matas, Chichequaas, Shackamaxons, Tuteloes, Nanticokes, and many others, inhabited the lower country towards the coast, while the more warlike tribes of the Wolf, watched their dangerous Northern neighbors. Their lands extended from the Iroquois frontier, south to Mackahnack1 and they lighted their grand council fire at Minisink. The Minsi tribes then were the ancient owners and occupants of these Northampton hills and valleys and streams. Their name, the general name of the Delawares, Lenni Lenope, signified in the Indian tongue "The Original People.4 They claimed to have sprung from the most ancient of all Indian ancestry; and it is certain that the Miamis, the Wyandots, and more than twenty other tribes admitted the claim, and accorded to the Lenape, the title of grandfathers, or a people more ancient than themselves. The following tradition regarding their origin is related by Loskiel: "Among the Delawares, those of the Minsi or Wolf tribe, say that, in the beginning, they dwelt in the earth under a lake, and were fortunately extricated from this unpleasant abode by the discovery which one of their men made of a hole through which he ascended to the surface; on which, as he was walking, the found a deer, which the carried back with him into his subterraneous habitation; that there the deer was eaten, and the and his companions found the meat so good, that they unanimously determined to leave their dark abode and remove to a place where they could enjoy the light of Heaven, and have such excellent game in abundance. ___________________________________________________________________________ 1. By De Witt Clinton, the Five Nations were called the " Romans of America. 2. Forks of the Delaware 3. The Wolf commonly called the Minsi, which we have corrupted into Monsey, had chosen to live back of the other two tribes, and formed it kind of bulwark for their protection watching the motion of the Mengwe, and being at hand to afford them aid in case of a rupture with them. The Minsi were considered the most warlike and active branch of the Lenape. They extended their settlements from the Minisink, a place named after them, where they had their council seat and fire, quite up to the Hudson on the east, and to the west and south. far beyond the Susquehanna; their northern boundaries were supposed originally to be the heads of the great rivers Susquehanna and Delaware, and their southern, that ridge of hills known, in New Jersey by the name of Muskanecum. and in Pennsylvania, by those of Lehigh, Coghnewago, &c. Within this boundary were their principal settlement; and even as late as the year 1742, they had a town with a peach orchard, on the tract of land where Nazareth in Pennsylvania has since been built; all other on Lehigh, and others beyond the Blue Ridge, besides many family settlements here and there scattered." -"History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations who once inhabited Pennsylvania," by Rev. John Heckewelder. 4. "They will not admit that the whites are superior beings. They say that hair of their heads, their features, and the various colors of their eyes, evince that they are not like themselves, Lenni Lenape, all ORIGINAL PEOPLE, a race of men that has existed unchanged from the beginning of time; but they are a mixed race, and therefore a troublesome one; wherever they may be, the Great Spirit knowing the wickedness of their disposition, found it necessary to give them a Great Book, and taught them )low to read it that they might know and observe what he wished them to do, and what to abstain from But they-the India to-have no need of any such book to let them know the will of their Maker; they find it engraved on their own hearts; they have bad sufficient discernment given to them to distinguish good from evil, and by following that guide, they are sure not to err.-Heckewelder. 1. Mohawks- "the fire striking people-they being the first to procure fire-arms from the Dutch, the term arising from their flint-locks striking sparks of fire. 2. Senevas-Mountainer -because they inhabited the hilly or mountainous parts of the Iroquois domain. 3. Cayuans-from the lake Queugue, on the shores of which they lived. 4. Onondaga-from Onondago, signifying " the hill top," their principal town being set on a hill. 5. Oneidas- the pipe-keepers -a name given them because they were most ingenious In making stone tobacco pipes. 22 "The two other tribes, the Unamis, or Tortoise, and the Unalachtgos, or Turkey, have much similar notions, but reject the story of the lake, which seems peculiar to the Minsi tribe." "That the Indians, from the earliest times, considered themselves in a manner connected with certain animals, is evident from various customs still preserved among them, and from the Dames of those animals which they have collectively as well as individually assumed. "It might, indeed, be supposed that those animals names, which they have given to their several tribes, were mere badges of distinction, or coats of arms, as, Pyrlaeus calls them, but if we pay attention to the reasons which they give for those denominations, the idea of a supposed family connection is easily discernible. The Tortoise, or as it is commonly called the Turtle tribe, among the Lenape, claims a superiority and ascendancy over the others, because their relation, the great Tortoise, a fabled monster, the Atlas of their mythology, beam, according to their traditions, this great island on his back,1 and also, because he is amphibious, and can live, both on land and in the water, which neither of the heads of the other tribes can do. The merits of the Turkey, which gives its name to the second tribe, are that the is stationary, and always remains with or about them. As to the Wolf, after whom the third tribe is named; he is a rambler by nature, roaming from one place to another, in quest of his prey; yet they consider him as their benefactor, as it was by his means, that the Indians got out of the interior of the earth. It was he, they believe, who by the appointment of the Great Spirit, killed the deer which the Monsey found, who first discovered the way to the surface of the earth, and which allured them to come out of their damp and dark residence. For that reason, the Wolf is to be honored, and his name preserved for ever among them. "These animals names, it is true, they all use as national badges, in order to distinguish their tribes from each other, at home and abroad. In this point of view, Mr. Pyrlaeus was right in considering them as coats of arms. The Turtle warrior draws either with a coal, or with paint, here and there on the tree* along the war-path, the whole animal carrying a gun with the muzzle projecting forward, and if he leaves a mark at the place where be has, made a stroke on his enemy, it will be the picture of a Tortoise. "Those of the Turkey tribe, paint only one foot of it turkey; and the Wolf tribe, Sometimes a wolf at large with one foot and leg raised up to serve as a hand, in which the animal also carries a gun with the muzzle forward. They, however, do not generally use the word "wolf," when speaking of their tribe, but call themselves P'duk-sit, which means round foot, that animal having a round foot like a dog." Another of the principal traditions, among the Delawares ran, that, ages before, their ancestors had lived in a far off country to the west, beyond the mighty rivers and mountains, and that, in the belief that there existed, away towards the rising sun, a red mans paradise-a land of deer, and salmon, and beaver-they had traveled eastward for many moons, until they stood upon the western shore of the Namisi Sipu 2 (Mississippi), and there they met a numerous nation, migrating, like themselves. They were a Stranger tribe, of whose very existence the Lenape had been ignorant. They were none other than the Mengwe; and this was the first meeting of those two people, who afterwards became rivals and enemies, and continued so for centuries. Both were now travelers, and bound on the same errand. But they found a lion in their path, for beyond the great river lay the domain of a nation called Allegewis, who were not only strong in numbers and brave, but more skilled than themselves in the art of war; who had reared great defences of earth, enclosing their villages and strongholds. In the true spirit of military strategy, they permitted a part of the emigrants to crow the river, and then, having divided their antagonists, fell upon them with great fury to annihilate them. But when the Lenape saw this, they at once formed an alliance, offensive and defensive, with the Mengwe. The main body crossed the river and attacked the Allegewi with such desperate energy, that they defeated and afterwards pursued them into the interior, where they fought from stronghold to stronghold, till finally, after a long and bloody war, the Allegewi were not only humiliated but exterminated; and their country occupied by the victors. After this, both nations ranged eastward; the Mengwe taking the northern, and the Lenape still keeping the more southern route, until, after long journeyings, the former reached the Mohicannittuck (Hudson River), and the latter rested upon the banks of the Lenape Wihittuck-the beautiful river which we now know as the Delaware-and here they found that Indian Elysium, of which they had dreamed before they left their old homes, in the land of the setting sun. At the present day, there are many enthusiastic -searchers through the realms of aboriginal lore, who accept this narrative as authentic, and believe that the combined Lenape and Mengwe tribes did destroy a great and comparatively civilized people, and that the unfortunate Allegewi, who were thus extinguished, were none others than the mysterious Mound Builders of the Mississippi Valley. The fact is, that all Indian tribes told of long pilgrimages and great deeds performed under illustrious leaders, far in the dim past, and claimed to trace their own history and descent back for centuries, even to the great Manitou. And missionaries and travelers among them, who were familiar with their language and customs, gravely tell us of Indian chronology running back to a period before the Christian era; and some of the old enthusiasts claimed that the America aborigines were descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. But it is not the province of the historian to enter on any such field of speculation. All their traditions were so clouded and involved in improbability, -and so interwoven with superstition, that, as regards their truth or falsity, all that can be said is, that they afford all excellent opportunity for indulgence in the luxury of dreamy conjecture. ______________________________________________________________________ 1 And the believed sometimes the grandfather Tortoise became weary, and shook himself, or changed his position, and that this was the cause of earthquakes. 2 Meaning of the Indian tongue-River of Fish.